Slap My Head Alert! Outgoing IRS Chief: Taxes Voluntary

On Friday, former acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, said that America’s tax system is “voluntary.”

During the hearing, Rep. Devin Nunes (D-CA) said in passing that the U.S. tax code is a “voluntary system.” Miller simply responded, “Agreed.”

This line has been used before by none other than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Interviewed by Jan Helfeld in 2008, this is how the conversation went:

Helfeld: If the government is in the business of forcefully taking money from some people in order to provide welfare benefits to others, how will the people whose money is being taken feel about the government?